All our goodbyes

We are here! We made it! Phew!

Last Sunday, we loaded up a rental car, and took a road trip to spend time with friends and family before we flew out to Cozumel for 6 months. But let’s back up a little because this is a good story.

I’ve been pretty open with how overwhelmed I have been the last few months. Don’t roll your eyes- it’s stressful!

I had what I am referring to an energy block, and I couldn’t figure out what it was- but after a couple of dreams I had, I figured out what was causing it, and with at least a point of reference, I was able to deal with it. All at once, worries I had were falling away. My friend Craig called me out of the blue, and told me that I could store my things at his house- he said he never uses the 2nd floor of his house, and there are extra bedrooms. He said when I want to come back, if it’s 3 months from now, 6 months, a year- whenever, I would have a place to come back to until I figured out my next move. This was an incredible relief. I had struggled with the idea of not having a place to come home to- sure I could leave, but where do I go? Now I have a home there. And it’s the most perfect place, a house on the Perdenales River, right next to Reimer’s Ranch (a favorite climbing spot) with lots of trees, and room to roam. It’s absolutely lovely.

Then, instead of hiring movers, my friends offered to help me move. On Moving Day, we took everything to Craig’s house, set up some slack lines, BBQ’ed (veggies for me!), climbed trees, drank ridiculously amazing wine, and played hacky sack. It was the perfect last day in Austin. Really perfect. Carol and I got a bit emotional. And I might have shed a small tear when saying goodbye to Erin and Jason, but I can’t say because he would probably make fun of me forever for it…. I can’t help it! They’re having a baby! Her hormones rubbed off on me! 🙂

Sunday was hard. My ex-husband came to see the kids one last time, and went with us to the rental place so we could trade cars (he bought my car from me). He has been really supportive of this move, and because he didn’t see the kids very often, it all worked out really smoothly without any change in our arrangement. However, it hit him when he said his goodbyes to the kids, and I haven’t seen him that torn up in a long, long time. With lots of tears, and a kiss on the forehead, he told me to go do what I needed to do, and to take care of the kids…

We went to Waco to see my childhood best friend, Ashley, and her husband. He told the waiter in Spanish not to speak to me in English since I was moving to Mexico. Yea… that was fun. 🙂

Our next stop was Tyler, to visit my grandparents for a couple of days. The kids ran around like little tornadoes, and my poor G-maw ran around behind them. I worked a lot of the time, trying to get caught up from Moving Week, but we had time to visit extended family, drink wine (out of old coffee mugs), and even go for a nice long run under the big beautiful Tyler trees. I haven’t run that long or that far without stopping. Ever. I just kept telling myself if I could finish that run, I could get on that plane. For some reason, the two seemed equivalent. Except not really, because I hate running and airplanes are AWESOME! We had a nice long goodbye at our favorite breakfast spot Tuesday morning, and headed off to Dallas/Ft. Worth.

I stayed with my old roommate and best friend, Amberly, her husband and their 2 kids. Back when I lived there, it was just the 2 of us. Now we have all these kids and dogs! 🙂 I went into my old bedroom, and laid there. Breathed in all the good memories. If I could have hugged the carpet, I would have. That house is home, and always will be. It smells just the same. And it looks just the same- except our baby tree is bigger and our old garden is now a sand box for the kids. I remember the summer planted it- we were determined to grow our own pico de gallo, and somehow it was supposed to mend my broken heart after the-worst-break-up-ever (at that point). We got through it, so I guess it worked.

Amberly and I had a great time this visit, the kids all had a blast, and on the last morning there, we had a very tearful goodbye. I felt so loved, and so happy and thankful to have gotten more time with her before I left, and I was so glad she was who I spent my last days in the states with. Our other best friend (Uncle Al to my kids) flew in from California at the last minute just to spend time with the kids and I before we left, so I was overwhelmed with love and support from them both. Albert was the last friend I saw on my way outhe door, and of course, I cried my way to the airport.

I really have the best friends in the world. I’m convinced of it.

The airport was easy peasy. The guy at the car rental place gave me a ride to the terminal, bags were easy to load onto a cart, check in was easy, security was easy, finding our gate was easy- it was all a breeze! The flight was delayed by 3 hours, but we found other kids to play with, so everyone was occupied. They even all took a nap in the airport together. The flight itself was a BLAST! There were NINE people at the front of the plane who played games with the kids, sang with them, shared snacks, and entertained them. Everyone was happy, no crying, easy. Customs and luggage in Mexico was no problem either.

But let me tell you. Once I stepped outside of that airport, my good luck stream ran out. We missed the bus, so I had to get a private bus ALL THE WAY to Play del Carmen which cost about 4 times what I would have paid if we had been earlier. But our flight was so late, I was worried about getting to the ferry on time. At this point, the kids had had enough, and they were both crying. They cried most of the bus ride to Playa. The guy dropped me off at the wrong ferry pier. Actually, it wasn’t even a pier- it was a place to buy ferry tickets, but it was WRONG, and we were blocked in, so I asked him to just unload us and I would get ahold of my friends.

I had been sending them messages for an hour by this point, and my phone SAID they were going through, but after another hour passed and Legend peed his pants, I found that no, they were not getting my messages. I couldn’t leave that spot because we had too much luggage. The kids cried for about an hour while sitting on the curb. My phone wouldnt call my friends, and no one over there spoke English.

FINALLY, a couple of locals who did speak English called a friend for me. I didn’t know how to explain where I was other than to look for a man spray painted in gold dancing in the middle of the square. Not long after, I heard them yelling my name, and we were all re-united! I felt like a lost little kid, and if any of those ladies could have picked me up and carried me, I just might have made them. Haha. Just kidding. Kinda.

Of course, after all the shenanigans, we had missed the ferry, and had to wait another 2 hours. That called for a margarita and some food. These ladies were incredible. They all carried my luggage and my kids around, helped get us to the ferry, on the ferry, off the ferry, into a vehicle and off to a beautiful spare house for the night where we could sleep and shower before getting our new house the next morning. We were ALL exhausted, but they made the evening so much easier. I couldn’t have done it without them!!

I already have stories from our first couple of days here, but I’ll save them for another post. I’m grateful to be here, and even more grateful to have such sweet friends here with me. We made it safely, the kids are excited and happy, and I get excited to see them excited. My heart aches for special people I left back home. But I figure- if I talk this place up, more people will come visit, right? 🙂